Revenge
by NightingaleTear
Summary: They are more than just a team. They are a family with Gibbs as their leader. But what if something happens to those who are closest to him?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Originally, I wanted to publish some more Tiva-focused stories, but I'm kind of waiting for my beta to give me the green light on those. But my muse got bored, and so I just started writing this little general team/crime story, set during the time when Jenny was still alive. There will be hints on Jibbs and Tiva, though, since I couldn't resist. Anyway, hope you like it.

Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters are the property of CBS Television and Belisarius Productions. No copyright infringement intended.

Summary: They are more than just a team. They are a family with Gibbs as their leader. But what if something happens to those who are closest to him?

**Revenge**

Director Jenny Shepard sat in her study, a glass of barely touched Bourbon in her hand. The room was mostly dark and quiet with the exception of some soft Jazz music playing in the background. The rest of the huge house lay in similar emptiness, but Jenny preferred it that way.

Since today was the fourth of July, numerous parties were going on in the city and she could have joined any one of them. The SecNav had even invited her to his own house for a private party. But Jenny hadn't felt like making politically correct small talk with dozens of politicians and other agency leaders, who were either incredibly full of themselves or tried to hit on her the entire time or even both.

By now, Jenny was more than used to the constant struggle she faced as the only female Director of a federal agency in the midst of a world that was still very much dominated by men. She had learned to be twice as tough as most of all the other women (and men, for that matter) to be able to stand her ground, and she had also gotten used to dealing with all those chauvinists who refused to believe that she was capable of anything but getting knocked up.

But today, Jenny had decided that it was so much easier to just stay home by herself.

At least, until her doorbell rang. At first, Jenny didn't move, waiting for her maid Juanita to open the door and then report to her who had decided stop by this late. But then she remembered that Juanita wasn't there, or anyone else who could have opened the door for her.

Jenny set her glass on the table and headed for the door herself. When she opened it, a curious smile appeared on her lips. "Jethro. It's pretty late for a visit, don't you think?"

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs seemed unperturbed by that accusation (as she wouldn't have expected otherwise) and merely countered with a question of his own. "There's no security in front of your house, Jen."

Or at least, it surely had been intended as a question. But as often happened with Gibbs, it sounded more like a statement, bordering on an accusation. "I gave them the day off," Jenny replied simply.

"Why?" Gibbs asked, sounding irritated.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, there is a public holiday going on. That's where all the fireworks come from, you know." Jenny smiled.

Gibbs didn't seem amused, though come to think of it, he barely ever did. "So? You think assassins take the day off, too?"

Jenny sighed. She knew he was just being protective of her, but if she had wanted to experience the caveman behavior she constantly seemed to trigger in members of the opposite sex, she would have attended the party at the SecNav's house.

"Is there something I can do for you, Jethro, or did you merely come by to criticize the way I handle my employees?"

"Nope, came to give you this." He threw a small package at her and while Jenny tried to catch it, Gibbs swiftly moved passed her and into the house.

"By all means, please come on in," Jenny said sarcastically and closed the door before eyeing the small package suspiciously. "What's this?"

Gibbs merely gave her one of his half-smiles. "Open it."

"I don't know. I was just advised that foreign assassins don't tend to celebrate the independence of our country." She gave him an amused smile of her own.

Without missing a beat, Gibbs walked back towards her and brought his lips right to her ear. "Open it," he repeated simply and then headed into her study to help himself to a glass of Bourbon.

Jenny stood in the hallway in bemusement for a few seconds. Her relationship with Jethro had always been… different than all the other relationships in her life, past or present. Their romantic involvement was a thing of the past. It had been six years, after all. But still, ever since Jenny had become Director of NCIS, the memory seemed to be right there in the air between them.

And frankly, that didn't exactly make her job any easier. Normally, Jenny wouldn't have tolerated the kind of disrespectful behavior towards her which she saw in Gibbs every other day. But with Jethro everything was just way more complicated. It was pretty hard to behave like a dignified superior in front of someone who knew you that intimately – literally.

So Jenny had had no other choice but to put her foot down and at least try to make it clear to Jethro that they had to stop with this constant flirting. Since then they had established a working relationship as 'normal' as was possible with their history. In any case, Jethro had refrained from talking about what had once been between them and mostly stopped flirting with her.

But what the hell was this then?

"Are you stuck out there?" Gibbs now asked from inside her study while sipping at his Bourbon.

Jenny forced herself to move and then leaned against her desk, still weighing the little package in her hand. "I'm just not used to receiving presents." _Especially not from you_, she added mutely.

"Well, if you don't want it…" Gibbs made a movement as if to take it back, which in turn caused Jenny to open it.

It was a small, wooden box which contained an antique looking compass. "It's beautiful," Jenny said, looking up in surprise.

Gibbs nodded. "Pretty old, too."

"I can see that," Jenny replied with a smile. "What's it for?"

"To stop you from veering off course."

"I'm familiar with the symbolic meaning, Jethro." She shook her head in exasperation. "What I meant was, why did you give it to me?"

Gibbs looked at her, clearly enjoying his control of the situation. "Because it's your birthday, Jen."

"My birthday is tomorrow, Jethro," she corrected, her amusement fading.

Gibbs merely pointed at the watch behind her. "Nope."

Jenny turned around and saw that it was exactly one minute past midnight. She must have lost track of the time. She looked back at Gibbs, feeling touched and confused at the same time. "Why, thank you, Jethro."

"You're welcome." With that Gibbs put his glass down and simply headed towards the door.

Stunned, Jenny blinked several times, but was faster to react than before. "Wait, where are you going?" she asked while following him back into the hall.

Gibbs turned around with that goddamn poker face of his on. "Home," he replied as if that was totally obvious.

As if it was totally natural to just show up at a former lover's house at midnight to drop off a gift and then leave again. But was that really everything he had come here for or was he just messing with her?

"Well, won't you at least stay for a drink?" Jenny offered somewhat helpless.

"I already had one, Jen," Gibbs reminded her, his gaze unwavering.

Jenny shook her head and decided to send all that faked distance between them to hell and just go for it. "Okay, but I'm offering you another one because I would like you to stay."

Gibbs looked at her with a peculiar expression in his eyes. "Then you should have said that a long time ago." With that he opened the door and was gone.

Jenny was left standing there in her hallway, staring at the closed door in disbelief. "What the hell…?"

She looked at the handmade compass she was still holding on to and shook her head. She really didn't understand this man sometimes. Why come here in the middle of the night to give her this beautiful gift only to turn right on his heels again?

Well, obviously her words had triggered that memory which seemed forever burnt on Gibbs' mind and which he apparently would never forgive her – the day their romance had ended because Jenny had refused to return to the States with Gibbs since she had been offered a promotion in Europe. Did she regret that decision now?

No, she had told Gibbs several times that she had merely made the decision that had been best for her. But was it really? Her career had been on the fast track ever since and where had that brought her? Yes, she was Director of NCIS, but she was also hiding out in her house on a public holiday because she didn't like any of the people she had to deal with in her official capacity.

"Great, you're questioning your whole life because of a man who builds boats in his basement only to burn them afterwards," Jenny muttered, angry with herself and turned back towards her study.

But before she could reach it, the doorbell rang again. Despite herself, Jenny started smiling. So Jethro had merely been messing with her, she thought while opening him again.

"Did you miss me al…"

But Jenny stopped mid-sentence when she realized that it wasn't Gibbs standing on her doorstep, but a man who was barely recognizable because he was all dressed in black and wore a mask over his face. Jenny only had a split-second to spot the gun in his hand and realize the irony of the situation before she heard the trigger being pulled and her whole world exploded in pain.

Although everything was abruptly turned upside down as her head collided with the floor and the pain that seared through her brought a darkness with it that threatened to swallow her, Jenny's hand moved one last time to reach the cell phone in her pocket and press speed dial.


	2. Chapter 2

Gibbs was headed home with a constant fifteen miles per hour above the allowed speed limit. He knew getting home as fast as possible wouldn't undo the trip to Jenny's house, but at least it would get him back to working on his boat. That usually helped to drown out these kinds of thoughts.

He really didn't know what had gotten into him this time. He had simply realized that it was Jenny's birthday drawing near, had grabbed the compass and driven to her house. And of course she had reacted in a way he could have predicted if he had thought this through – being all alone with her in the middle of the night.

Well, he couldn't have known that she had been so stupid to send everyone in her service home to celebrate and he had never really understood what it was that she wanted from him after everything that had happened.

She was the one who had specifically told him that there wouldn't be any more 'off the job' between the two of them, and she was always the first one to back out of a conversation that brought them too close to… something… something that started sizzling between them like pure energy. In short, Jenny behaved as if he had dumped her and not the other way around.

But it didn't matter. It was over. Until he was stupid enough to show up on her doorstep at midnight and that look was suddenly back in her eyes…

Dammit, this was exactly why he didn't do this kind of stuff anymore. It only resulted in headaches and wasted time. He should leave this to DiNozzo and be done with it.

His cell phone rang. Gibbs glanced at it and saw a picture of Jenny on the display telling him that it was her number calling. Apparently, Abby had gotten her hands on his phone because he certainly hadn't put that picture there.

For a moment Gibbs pondered to let it go to voicemail (which of course he would never check), but with a sigh he decided otherwise. Jenny was also Director of NCIS, after all. It could be important.

"What is it, Director?" he asked, hoping his tone made it clear that he would only talk to her if this was professional.

But he didn't get an answer at all. Gibbs frowned. "Jen?"

He pressed the phone to his ear and thought he could hear heavy, irregular breathing on the other end and then: "Jeth… ro…"

Gibbs slammed on the brakes so hard while spinning the steering wheel that his car turned around with screeching tires. Several other drivers honked at him in anger, but he ignored them. He floored the accelerator and sped back towards Jenny's house, cursing himself for leaving her alone like that in the first place.

He slammed on the brakes again when her driveway came into sight and didn't bother to turn off the engine. Gibbs jumped out of his car, weapon in hand and rushed towards the front door.

He found his worst fears confirmed when he saw it standing wide open – giving view to the Director of NCIS lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood.

"Jenny!"

Gibbs dropped to the ground next to her, quickly trying to assess her condition. She had been shot squarely in the chest, the cell phone had fallen out of her right hand and her eyes were closed. Most importantly though, she still seemed to be breathing, however barely.

Gibbs cursed before calling 911 and pressing his hands on the wound. "Stay with me, Jenny. I won't have another member of my team die on me. Come on!"

But the only response he got was the warm blood that drenched his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed and enjoyed the first two chapters! ;)

* * *

><p>"Any word on the Director?"<p>

Ziva David looked at her team members in mute frustration. She couldn't help feeling that she should have been there to prevent this from happening somehow. She and the Director shared quite a few memories and after everything they had been through in Europe, Ziva refused to accept that some guy had simply walked right up to her doorstep and killed her.

"Still in surgery," McGee replied however, looking just as helpless as she felt.

"But did they not rush her into surgery the minute Gibbs brought her to the hospital? How long can this possibly take?" The pencil Ziva had been twirling between her fingers broke into several pieces when all her anger and frustration got the better of her.

McGee sighed. "I don't know, but I think it's good. Means she survived this long."

"Hey, she's a tough one – Jenny. She'll make it," Tony insisted with probably as much determination as he could muster and looked at Ziva.

She desperately wanted to believe that he was right (for once), but optimism had never been part of her upbringing or training. "How could this even happen?" she therefore returned to ranting.

"Gibbs said the Director gave the security staff the day off," McGee replied although Ziva already knew that of course.

"Yes, but how could they actually leave?" Ziva could not understand how anyone supposedly trained in protecting people could be that stupid.

"Well, she is the Director. They were following her orders," Tony said in a feeble attempt to give an explanation.

Ziva merely shook her head. "Then I would have retreated as far as necessary for the Director not to notice that I was still there!"

"Unfortunately, you weren't the Director's protection detail last night."

"But I should have been!"

"Hey, it's not your fault," Tony said gently, but Ziva shook her head once more.

"I just have this feeling that I could have known that she was in danger." This was driving her crazy.

"Well, if there were signs, we all missed them. So there's plenty of blame to go around. Don't be so greedy, Zee-vah."

She wanted to tell Tony off for making jokes about this, but when she looked at him, she couldn't bring herself to it. Somehow, hearing the way he liked to pronounce her name when he was kidding around (as he often did) was comforting to her.

"Anyway, I sure hope she pulls through," McGee said, effectively ending the guilt discussion.

Tony turned towards him again. "I already told you, McPessimist. She's a tough one."

"Hopefully, it's her birthday, too."

Ziva nodded sadly. "And I do not want to know what Gibbs will do when…"

"… when he finds you sitting here, dwindling your thumbs?" Gibbs' voice suddenly came from her immediate right as he walked briskly towards his desk.

"Boss!" Tony and McGee jumped to their feet, obviously eager for news on the Director.

Ziva followed their example, but she could see from the expression on Gibbs' face that he didn't come bearing news. He looked tired, which was understandable since he had probably been up all night and only now came to NCIS from Bethesda without even changing first, judging from the blood stains on his coat.

"How's the Director?" McGee was the first to ask.

"I don't know, McGee, but she would certainly make a quicker recovery if we presented her with the bastard who did this to her. So what do you got?" Gibbs locked eyes with McGee and the fury that almost seemed to set Gibbs' eyes ablaze made the younger agent wince.

"I'm afraid not much, Boss," he replied with a small voice. "Checked the security cameras. But all I've got is this."

He pressed a button on his keyboard and the only picture they had of the assassin appeared on the plasma screen. It was pretty much useless because it only showed a dark figure that was barely visible against the darkness of the background at all.

Before Gibbs could comment on that, another high-pitched voice beat him to it. "Gibbs! Gibbs! You're back!"

Abby rushed towards them as fast as her platform shoes would allow it and her black pigtails were bouncing up and down. When she reached Gibbs, she gave him a fierce hug. "Is the Director alright?"

"I don't know, Abs," Gibbs replied again, somewhat nicer though. "Tell me you can do something with this picture!" he immediately added.

Abby looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Gibbs. But there's really not much I can do. I tried lightening the whole thing up, but the killer had his face covered so all I can tell you is his approximate height and weight."

"Fingerprints?" Gibbs asked.

"We checked everything, Boss, but he was wearing gloves and didn't touch anything much, anyway," McGee replied although he looked as if he really rather didn't. "He just walked right up and… well left again."

"No sign of a dumped murder weapon either," Ziva chipped in.

"Or any useful witnesses," Tony added. "Neighbors were all out celebrating."

Gibbs looked at them furiously. "Tell me you've got more than that!"

They shared helpless looks. "Well, Boss, what do you…?"

"How about a list of possible attackers?" Gibbs cut across Tony.

"She is the Director of NCIS, Gibbs. She is a high-value target for about each and every anti-American organization," Ziva reminded him. She knew he was just as furious as she herself was, but this was not their fault, well, probably not…

But Gibbs was in no state to be reasoned with. "Then get on the phone and ask your contacts whether they have heard of anything and if it's the most far-fetched rumor they have ever heard of!"

Ziva merely nodded though she didn't really think she would find anything. But keeping herself busy was probably not a bad idea.

"And you two, go through all the recent files she signed off. Find someone or something that had a reason to get back at her!" Gibbs snapped at McGee and Tony.

"On it, Boss!" the latter replied immediately, but they all knew it was probably a vain effort.

"What can I do, Gibbs?" Abby asked now.

Gibbs' tone softened somewhat. "Wait for those damn doctors to get that bullet out of her system."

"Oh, okay … and in the meantime, I will get you some coffee!" she decided and hurried off.

When Abby was gone, Gibbs sat down at his desk and seemed to struggle against his fatigue.

They were all working in relative silence for a while, which was why the sudden ringing of the phone made them all jump a little.

"Gibbs."

Ziva looked from their team leader to Tony and he mirrored her own hopeful expression.

Finally, Gibbs hung up the phone and rose from his chair. "She's out of surgery," he said.

"That's good, isn't it?" Tony looked at Gibbs for confirmation.

"I don't know, DiNozzo. Have you found her attacker, yet?" Gibbs shot back.

"Uh, no, Boss."

"Then keep working!"

Tony and McGee, who had half risen to their feet as well, sank back down, looking disappointed. Gibbs strode resolutely passed her own desk while he said, "Ziva, you're with me!"

Gladly, Ziva jumped to her feet and hurried to take her badge and weapon out of her desk. Despite Gibbs' incredibly bad mood, Tony of course couldn't simply leave it at that. "Hey, why can Ziva come?" he asked.

Gibbs, who had almost been at the elevator, turned back towards them. "Because, DiNozzo, that bastard you still haven't identified might come back to finish the job!"

Well, at least they knew now that the Director was still alive – for the time being. Ziva gave Tony a look that was supposed to tell him that she would let him know whatever she would learn about the Director's condition and then hurried to follow Gibbs into the elevator.

They headed down into the NCIS parking garage in tense silence and not for a second did Ziva think of arguing with Gibbs about who should be driving. And when they reached the Bethesda Naval Hospital a mere quarter of an hour later, Ziva had to admit that she couldn't have driven much faster than that herself.

Gibbs didn't bother to actually park the car – he merely dumped it at the entrance – and they immediately hurried off to the ICU. There they met with the Doctor who had performed the surgery on the Director. He looked grim, but not as if he was about to deliver a death sentence.

"The surgery went fairly well," he told them. "Luckily, the bullet missed her aorta by a few inches. If it had ruptured it, she would have been dead immediately. But under these circumstances we managed to repair most of the damage. It was a very difficult and straining surgery, though. The next 24 to 48 hours will have to show whether she has enough strength left to recover from it."

"And if not?" Ziva dared to ask.

"Then she will probably die of heart failure," the Doctor replied. "But we are monitoring her condition closely and I think you can be cautiously optimistic."

They all looked through the window that separated them from the patient room that was now the Director's. She was hooked up to all the usual machinery, but at least Ziva was relieved to see her breathe on her own. Her eyes were firmly closed, but after everything she had been through, that was not surprising.

"She will make it, Gibbs," Ziva said after the Doctor had left them.

"Yeah? What makes you say that?" Gibbs asked, his eyes on the Director.

"Well, if that were me, I would not rest until I got the chance to avenge myself or knew that somebody else took care of it for me."

Gibbs looked at her. "Then I trust that you won't let her out of your sight in case he comes back."

Ziva met his gaze steadily. "If he does come back… permission to shoot?"

Gibbs' expression was that of grim satisfaction. "Permission to do whatever your Mossad training reserved for bastards like that."

"Understood," Ziva nodded and started to hope that he actually would come back.

* * *

><p>AN: I'm not studying to be a doctor so forgive me if the medical stuff didn't make much sense ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Jenny felt worse than she had ever felt before or at least right now she couldn't remember having felt worse than this and that was to say something after all the trips to the ER she had undergone during her time as active field agent – several of those together with Jethro, which was why she thought she was imagining his voice at first.

"Jen?"

For a (quite peaceful) moment, she thought she might be back in Paris and pictured herself leaving the hospital to return to their hotel room where Jethro would take better care of her than any of these damn doctors ever could.

But then Jenny blinked several times to clear her eyesight and realized that Jethro's concerned face hovering above her own was quite real and that they weren't back in Paris because Ziva was in the room, too.

"Good to have you back, Director," the Israeli woman said and smiled at her when she saw that Jenny was looking at her.

But Jenny wasn't sure whether Ziva's enthusiasm was quite warranted because she felt so awful and weak that she couldn't imagine getting out of his hospital bed any time soon. Nevertheless, she tried to at least sit up. "Jethro?"

"Easy there, Jen," Gibbs said and gently pushed her down into the pillows again, his hand resting on her chest a little longer than strictly necessary.

She didn't resist because lying on her back seemed about the only thing she could actually do right now without fading into unconsciousness again. And she certainly didn't mind Jethro's touch. It felt reassuring somehow, as if it helped anchoring her in the here and now and prevented her from slipping back into the darkness that lurked at the edges of her fuzzy vision.

"What… happened… Jethro?" she managed to ask him.

Instead of answering right away, Gibbs gave Ziva a look which she seemed to understand immediately.

"I will be right outside," she told them and although Jenny didn't quite know why, she felt reassured by that. If Ziva was outside guarding the door, no one would get passed her who wasn't supposed to. That much was for certain.

After Ziva had left the room, Gibbs focused on Jenny again. "You don't remember?" he asked in response to her earlier question.

Jenny was about to open her mouth to say no when between Ziva's protectiveness and Gibbs' barely contained anger everything suddenly came back to her. How she had opened the door to that masked guy, saw the gun pointed at herself and then… nothing but pain. Jenny winced and one of those damn monitors that surrounded her warned them that her heart rate was accelerating considerably.

Gibbs realized that as well and took her hand in his to give it a gentle squeeze. "It's okay, Jenny. You're safe now."

She sighed and allowed his touch to calm her down again. The last thing she wanted right now was a bunch of anxious Doctors to make a fuss over her. "And I would have been all along if I had listened to you," she finally said, thinking of Gibbs' warning concerning her missing security staff.

Gibbs merely looked at her. "Why did you just open the door, Jen?"

She pondered her answer for a few seconds because she knew how the truth would make him feel, but Jethro had an uncanny knack of noticing when he was being lied to. "I thought it was you coming back," she finally admitted.

Judging from the look on his face, Gibbs had already guessed as much. "I'm sorry, Jen. I shouldn't have left you alone."

That really caught her by surprise. "You're sorry? What about 'don't apologize, it's a sign of weakness'?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Well, that's exactly what this is."

"No, it's not. It's not your fault, Jethro." Jenny knew he wouldn't believe her, but she at least had to give it a try. "I just seem to repel everything that's good in my life. After all, you practically ran from my house."

Gibbs looked uncomfortable or at least as much as that was even possible for him. But Jenny took pride in knowing him pretty well. The look on his face told her that he wasn't prepared to talk about them right now. But he had always found it difficult to refuse her anything when she had gotten hurt during an op. He had always found a way to blame himself.

Back then perhaps it had made sense since he had been her superior. But now it was the other way around and he was still feeling guilty. Well, that was just the way he was – always so protective of the people he… what? Loved?

"Jen…"

"No, it's alright, Jethro," Jenny interrupted him because she didn't want him to feel guilty… about anything. Jethro had been hurting because of her once before. She certainly didn't want to hurt him again – which meant she should better stop wondering whether he still loved her or not.

"I made a decision once, which forced you to make yours. It's only fair," she told him.

Still, lying here now on the verge of death because some guy she probably didn't even know had shot her for no other reason than her being the leader of an US agency made her wonder whether she really hadn't made the wrong choice.

Maybe Gibbs could see what she was thinking about, but either way he decided to change the topic to something he felt more comfortable with or rather something that was the most prominent thing on _his _mind right now. "We will get that guy, Jenny."

She nodded, but she couldn't help feeling that it didn't really matter because there would always be another one.

* * *

><p>AN: Thanks for reading! I know the chapters are not very long. But I hope you enjoyed them, anyway )


	5. Chapter 5

Ziva sat in a chair in front of the Director's room and kept an eye on everyone who entered or left the corridor. But so far she had spotted only Doctors and nurses going about their usual business. Still, Ziva would not be fooled to let her guard down. It was far too easy for the assassin to steal some hospital clothing and disguise himself as a harmless nurse.

Should Gibbs leave the Director's room (and Ziva intended to convince him to get at least some rest, though she had absolutely no clue how to do that), she would position herself right in front of the door – just to be sure. She wasn't able to undo the stupidity of others, but she certainly would not fail to protect the Director now that she had the chance.

Ziva heard the ding sound of the elevator and her eyes zeroed in on the opening doors. But the man who entered the ICU floor was no threat to the Director – only to the female nurses around.

"Tony? What are you doing here?" she asked him when he walked up to her. "And what is that?"

"I come bearing gifts," Tony announced in his theatrical voice, which probably meant that some actor had once said the same thing in some stupid movie. "Not for you, though, Zee-vah. For Gibbs and the Director. Well, they're not really from me, but anyway…"

"Abby?" Ziva guessed when she spotted the bunch of pitch-black roses which lay in the basket Tony was carrying.

"Yeah, couldn't talk her out of it," Tony admitted. "Anyway, how's Jenny? Can I see her?"

Ziva nodded. "She is awake. But Gibbs is talking to her right now and unless you have something besides these… tokens of Abby's concern, I would not go in there right now."

"Of course this is not everything I've got. Not everyone got to sit around all day like you did. Abby analyzed the bullet and identified the make and model of the handgun that was used," Tony told her, but still dropped into a chair to her right. "Of course that doesn't help us much unless we actually _find _it or the guy who used it."

Ziva smiled a little when Tony was forced to admit that he hadn't actually found anything that would help them in their investigation.

But Tony wouldn't give up that easily. "I also have some old case files of bad guys who have recently been released from prison and could have decided to pay Jenny a visit afterwards. Maybe she can identify someone."

"The shooter was masked, Tony," Ziva reminded him.

"Yes, well, maybe he said something to her before he shot her."

Ziva shook her head. "I do not think so."

"Well, then what do you got, little Miss Know-it-all?" Tony snapped at her.

"It was not my job to find the shooter, but to protect the Director!"

Tony snorted. "Oh yeah, that must have been really exhausting with Gibbs hanging around in her room all day."

Ziva glanced at the window behind her. "I am not so sure. I think he might take this too personal to see clearly all the time."

"Yeah, I guess rule nr. 10 just went out of the window. What's that with him and the Director, anyway?" Tony pointed behind them as well. "I'm definitely catching a vibe there and I'm an expert on these kinds of things."

"Sure you are, Tony." She smirked at him.

Tony ignored it. "Seriously, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that Gibbs broke rule nr. 12 with Jenny. Not that you could blame him, I guess. Still, wonder what happened. Uh, you think Jenny is the reason for rule nr. 12?"

"The Director cut it off when she was offered a promotion in Europe," Ziva replied casually while she was still watching every movement around her.

Tony gaped at her. "You know the story and have never spilled the beans about it?"

Ziva frowned in confusion. "Why would I spill… beans?"

"It's an idiom, Zee-vah," Tony replied, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "It's also 'break it off' not 'cut it off'. But never mind that now. Tell me everything! And don't you dare leave out the juicy details, David!"

She looked at him and already regretted having said anything at all. "There is not much to tell, Tony. They were partners in Europe – as you already know. Gibbs was ordered back to the States and the Director did not go with him and took the job offer."

Tony sighed theatrically. "Ouch, a classic career over love decision. Poor Gibbs."

"I am sure it was not easy for the Director either," Ziva said though she had no idea why she was fueling this senseless conversation.

"Of course you're siding with her." Tony shook his head.

"I am not siding with anyone, Tony!"

"Sure, who knows how many men you 'cut off' in order to get to where you are now?"

Ziva's eyes narrowed. "So you would prefer it if I was not here right now?"

"I didn't say that," Tony denied hastily

"Then what _did_ you say, Tony?" she asked him, her eyes locking with his.

But he only held her gaze for a few seconds and then looked away. "I don't know. I'm confused."

Ziva shook her head. "You are not confused, Tony."

"No, but you are a Mossad killer and there's hot liquid in that basket."

She sighed and shook her head. He could never be serious for more than a few seconds at a time. Ziva pondered pointing that out to him, but she didn't get the chance.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs appeared in the now open doorway to the Director's room. "What do you got?"

Tony jumped to his feet and handed Gibbs the basket. "Coffee, Boss. From Abby. And these," he took the roses and slipped passed Gibbs into the room, "are for our lovely Director… when she wakes up again."

Because as Ziva could see now as well, the Director had fallen asleep again. At least, she hoped that she was only sleeping while Tony put the black roses into a vase. Gibbs waited until he was done with that and then pulled him out of the room again.

"Tell me that's not everything you have!"

Ziva gave him an 'I told you so' look and Tony rolled his eyes before answering, "Abby matched the bullet to a M9 Beretta, Boss."

"Wow, that's great, DiNozzo! That only narrows it down to almost every goddamn member of the Navy, Army or Air Force."

"Uh..." Tony looked helplessly at Ziva, now obviously considering what she had said about Gibbs not being quite himself today. "I also brought some old case files with connections to the Director. Perhaps our guy is in there. You could have a look at them while you drink a nice, soothing cup of…"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs interrupted him. "Shut up and get back here when you've got a suspect for me!"

This Time Tony was smart enough not to argue. "Uh, on it, Boss." And he hurried off.

"Seen anything suspicious?" Gibbs asked, turning towards Ziva now.

"Nothing so far," Ziva replied and decided that this was the time to go through with her plan. "But if he shows up, I will see him. Until then you could… go and have some rest."

Gibbs merely gave her his famous Gibbs stare, but Ziva would not give up that easily.

"I am just saying… if you don't trust me to protect the Director, then perhaps I should be out there and help Tony to find the shooter…"

To her satisfaction, Gibbs' hard look changed into one of his half-smiles. "Alright," he said.

But before he left, he didn't just take a cup of coffee out of Abby's basket, but also the case files Tony had brought along.

Ziva watched him leave and resumed her guard duty. Some of the nurses were already giving her funny looks, but Ziva ignored them. Part of her would have preferred to be out there, too, and help Tony and McGee find the shooter. She had never been very good at doing nothing. But then, she wasn't actually doing nothing, of course.

Guarding the Director was really the most important task right now and Ziva knew that even though she wished that someone would give her a reason to actually move, she wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the Director alone – not only because of her personal friendship with Jenny. But her survival was of vital importance for NCIS… and for Gibbs.

Ziva had never before seen him act this upset about a case. Or perhaps she had, but she certainly didn't want to think about Ari now. Anyway, it was understandable. If Tony had been the one to lie in that hospital bed, Ziva wouldn't have rested until she'd have found the one responsible and made him bleed to death, very slowly.

Ziva blinked and shook her head. What had suddenly made her think about Tony? This was not about him. This was about Jenny. And for her sake, Ziva had to keep focused. She sighed.

If only something would happen around here…


	6. Chapter 6

"Come on, find it! Give me something here and I promise you'll have the weekend off!" Abby stared at her instruments – her babies – willing them to give her some answers – answers she needed more desperately than ever.

Of course she was always eager to find answers, which she could then tell Gibbs so that he would give her a Caf-Pow or a hug or a kiss on the cheek or just a simple 'Thanks, Abs'. Any of these things would do because they made her happy and they also meant that Gibbs was happy since he was a little (or a lot) closer to solving his case.

But this time it was different. This time it was personal – as personal as it hadn't been since Kate's death. Abby shuddered and shook her head as if that could make the memory go away. The Director was not dead just yet, and if Abby had anything to say about it, Jenny wouldn't die any time soon either.

Still, Gibbs was running around ripping people's heads off if they couldn't give him any answers and although Abby had always been his favorite, she wasn't entirely sure whether that would save her today. And it shouldn't. She could understand Gibbs' fury, after all. This had been a deliberate attack on the very heart of NCIS or well, maybe not the heart, more like the head, but anyway, it was pretty bad.

No, _bad_ didn't really cut it. It was horrible, preposterous, outrageous… it was a challenge. A challenge to her, Abby Sciuto, forensic specialist at NCIS, to personally discover the evidence that would help Gibbs find this jerk and lock him up – or tear him into pieces, whatever. In any case, it was up to her to send a message out there that no one – not a living soul on the face of this earth – was allowed to hurt her team.

The rapidly changing numbers and letters on her monitor suddenly came to a stop and Abby yelled, "Yes! Gotcha!"

"What do you got, Abs?"

She spun around so fast that she almost lost her balance. "Gibbs! You're here! It's still working!"

"What's still working?" he asked as he came to a stop next to her.

"Our connection. You showing up in my lab whenever I've found something. That means you're alright!" Abby said relieved and hugged him.

"Of course I'm alright, Abs," Gibbs replied after she had let go of him again.

But Abby hadn't been so sure about that when she had seen him this morning. Now, though, he really did look better. "Good, I'm really glad you've changed, too, because all that blood on your clothes was really creeping me out," she told him.

Gibbs smiled softly, but then focused on her monitor. "So, what did you find?"

"Well, it's not like the solution to everything, but it's a start. I mean, the way things are at the moment… you know what they say, Gibbs, beggars can't be choosers…"

"Abby."

"Right, I accessed every traffic, ATM or security camera in the vicinity of the Director's house and I managed to find this." She hit a button and a video appeared on the big screen that showed a dark and pretty obscured figure getting into a car that was parked in an alley.

"The quality really sucks – again, so nothing on the shooter, but I did get at least half of the license plate. I ran that together with the model and color of the car and voila – this blue sedan was reported stolen yesterday. I'm emailing it to McGee like right now so that he can put out a BOLO and with a little luck we'll find it soon." _And with a little more of that luck, the shooter won't have ditched it just yet_, Abby added mutely.

Gibbs actually smiled a little and kissed her on the cheek. "Good work, Abs, and thanks for the coffee."

Abby beamed at him, but her smile faded quickly and she bit her lip. "She'll make it, right Gibbs?" she asked him silently.

She thought she heard Gibbs sigh, but his expression was kind and his voice confident when he said, "Yah, she already woke up once and was able to talk. She'll pull through the rest, too."

"Good," Abby said in relief because hearing it from Gibbs made her feel much better than talking to some doctor (she had already called the hospital several times and gotten into an argument over the stupid doctor-patient confidentiality – she was family, dammit!) "Because I can't lose anyone else. Not after…" Abby couldn't bring herself to say her name. "I already have nightmares about you guys dying on me…"

"Hey," Gibbs interrupted her now and pulled her into a soft hug. "_No one_ is going to die, Abs." He said it very slowly and sounded absolutely confident.

Abby nodded into his shoulder and managed a smile when Gibbs let go of her again. "Give the Director a hug from me, too," she said.

Gibbs just smiled and finally turned to leave her lab.

Abby refocused on her monitors and suddenly jumped a little. "Wait a second!"

Gibbs immediately came back towards her although she had been talking more to herself than him.

"The stolen car is equipped with a GPS system. Maybe I can hack into it and activate it from here."

Abby's fingers flew over her keyboard, ferociously entering commands while she muttered 'Come on' and was well aware of Gibbs' expectant eyes on her. "Got it!" she finally announced triumphantly.

"Where is it, Abs?" Gibbs asked immediately.

"It's not moving right now. It's parked…" Abby stopped when she realized what the data told her.

"Where?"

She turned to look at Gibbs. "Bethesda Hospital parking garage."

Gibbs immediately turned around and hurried out of her lab.

"Be careful!" Abby called after him and sighed.

She hated waiting down here while the others went out to put their lives in danger. But it was part of the job, of course. Somehow, she still couldn't get used to it, though, and secretly, Abby knew that she never would. Gibbs, Timmy, Tony, Ziva, Ducky and Jenny, even Palmer… they were her family.

_And no one messes with our family_, Abby thought grimly.

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><p>AN: Hope you liked it. Feel free to tell me if you did ;)


	7. Chapter 7

"Ziva?"

Jenny's voice was barely more than a raspy whisper and she sounded very weak, but Ziva was so glad to hear her say anything at all that she decided to abandon her post for a few minutes and entered the Director's room. The red-haired woman seemed relieved to see a familiar face, but not as relieved as Ziva felt.

"It is good to hear your voice again," she told her.

Jenny frowned. "Why does that sound as if you thought you might never talk to me again?"

"There was a code red or blue or whatever the doctors called it," Ziva said, shaking her head. "In any case, your heart gave out for a few seconds."

"Wow, sounds like I owe someone in this hospital a debt of gratitude."

"They were pretty efficient," Ziva nodded, remembering the bunch of nurses and doctors that had been in this room the second the monitors had started beeping and flashing red. It hadn't actually taken them very long to resuscitate the Director, but it had sure felt like an eternity to Ziva.

She had felt so useless, just standing there, unable to do anything besides try to not get in the way and stop herself from yelling at the nurses who had kept yelling at her to get the hell out. No, it had not been a pleasant experience and certainly not one she cared to relive. But there was nothing Ziva could do about that. It really began to… what was the word… beetle… no, bug her.

But at least the Director was now conscious once again so Ziva could stop thinking about how to tell Gibbs that her condition had worsened.

As if Jenny had been able to read her mind, she asked now, "Did you… happen to tell Agent Gibbs about that little incident?"

"No, I kept putting it off, hoping that there would be better news soon," Ziva admitted. "Which means that now is the time to tell him, I guess."

She reached for her cell phone, but Jenny made a movement as if to stop her, at least until she realized that rapid movements were not a good idea in her current condition. "No, don't… ah, shit…"

Ziva took a quick step closer to the bed. "Director, are you alright?"

"No, I feel like crap," Jenny hissed through her clenched teeth.

"Shall I alert the nurse?" Ziva asked upon seeing the pained expression on the other woman's face.

But Jenny shook her head and took a couple of deep breaths. "No, no doctors, no Gibbs. He's already upset enough. No need for him to rush back to the hospital because he'll sure as hell stop listening to you as soon as you say the words 'heart' and 'failure'."

Ziva smiled and put her cell phone away again. "Well, he cares about you. We all do." She glanced at the black roses and Jenny apparently followed her gaze.

The first genuine smile appeared on her lips when she saw them. "Abby, I presume?"

"Yes, she is very worried about you, too," Ziva nodded.

"Wow, nothing like getting shot at to make you feel special," Jenny muttered.

"Perhaps that is because you _are_ special."

Jenny focused back on her now. "Have you been standing guard out there ever since I left surgery?" she asked.

"Yes, I have," Ziva confirmed although something in the Director's eyes told her that this was not the answer she had wanted to hear.

"But that must have been hours!" she indeed protested. "Go get some rest."

"Oh no, I will not leave you alone," Ziva said grimly, shaking her head.

Jenny's eyes narrowed. "I could make that an order, _Officer_ David."

"You could," Ziva conceded. "But Gibbs' unspoken threat to kill me if I were to leave my post overrules that order, I think."

Jenny sighed and closed her eyes for a second. "He really thinks that guy will come back to finish the job?"

"It is possible… I certainly hope he will try."

"What?" Jenny frowned. "Why? What did Gibbs tell you to do with him if he comes back?"

"Stop him from hurting you again – ever," Ziva phrased it carefully.

Jenny shook her head. "Okay, I appreciate your concern for me and how personally you all seem to take this even though I am the only one who's got a hole in her chest. But I do not want you to do anything stupid, that is to say, anything _illegal_."

"So… no castration?"

"NO! Definitely not, and no other mutilations or forms of torture either. Did I make myself clear, Officer David?" Even though she was lying in a hospital bed and was hooked up to dozens of monitors and other machinery, Jenny managed to radiate authority.

Ziva suppressed a sigh. "Yes, Director."

"Good, so how are the odds that you could smuggle some coffee in here?"

Ziva smiled at this request that was so like Gibbs. "I am sorry, Director. I don't think your heart is up to that, yet."

Jenny just opened her mouth, probably to protest, when her doctor entered the room. "Good, you're awake. How are you feeling, Director Shepard?"

"Oh, just peachy," she replied sarcastically.

"Well, we can give you more painkillers. But don't worry. It's a very good sign that you regained consciousness so quickly. However, I think it is best if you rest now." He gave Ziva a very obvious look.

She acknowledged it with a nod. "I will go back outside now."

"No, wait," Jenny protested, however. "Doctor, I really don't think I will overstrain myself talking to one of my agents."

While she said this, though, the ECG announced that her heart rate was already accelerating. Before the doctor could say 'I told you so', Ziva headed for the door. "It's alright," she said. "I should be outside, anyway."

"Ziva!" Jenny called before she could actually leave. "Thank you."

Ziva smiled. "No need to thank me just yet, Director," she said and then left the room, hearing Jenny mutter something about why there was no rule against involving damn annoying doctors.

Back outside on the ICU floor, Ziva took one of the coffee cups from Abby's care basket and hesitated for a few seconds. But then the Director's doctor left her room, too, and when he saw her standing there with the coffee, a dozen alarm bells seemed to go off in his head, so Ziva quickly started drinking the coffee herself.

After the doctor had left, Ziva was just about to get rid of the coffee cup and focus on her guard duty again when she saw someone opening the door onto the ICU floor from the stairwell. A man's head appeared there for a few seconds, but as soon as his eyes fell on Ziva, he vanished again. The only thing she could make out before he was already gone was that he was all dressed in black.

Now it was her turn for the alarm bells to go off in her head. She wasn't Gibbs, but still Ziva knew in her gut that this was the shooter who had actually returned to check on the Director. But apparently, he was too much of a coward to even try to get past her. Ziva knew that Gibbs had ordered her not to leave her post and that she herself had just assured the Director that she wouldn't, but this could very well be their best chance of catching that guy.

In a split-second, Ziva made her decision. She grabbed a male nurse and positioned him in front of the door to the Director's room. "If you let anyone through this door who cannot prove to you that he is from NCIS, I will kill you!" she told the confused looking man and then sped away towards the stairs.

She could hear the hastily descending footsteps of the shooter and followed him all the way down into the parking garage, as she discovered after rushing through a heavy door with a big P on it. Ziva stopped shortly to take a look around. She heard the footsteps echoing through the huge garage and spotted a car that wasn't parked in one of the numerous parking spaces, but rather in the perfect position for a hasty exit.

The second Ziva realized that fact, the guy came into view again, heading right towards the blue sedan.

Ziva drew her weapon. "Federal agent. Freeze!" she called, remembering the Director's order to stick strictly to protocol, even though she would have preferred to simply blast the guy's head off. But he didn't heed her order, anyway, and jumped into his car to immediately start the engine instead.

Ziva broke into a run to get closer and raised her gun to send several rounds after the fleeing car. Her bullets shattered the driver's window and the tires started screeching when the car swerved and then hit the brakes. And Ziva noticed too late that the car wasn't speeding for the exit anymore. Instead, it started reversing with a sudden velocity which together with her own full run made it impossible for Ziva to stop or jump out of the way in time. The trunk of the car slammed into her and catapulted her first against the rear window and then back onto the concrete floor.

While her head felt as if someone had split it open, Ziva heard the car come to a screeching hold before the driver jumped out of the car again. She didn't need to see him to know that he was aiming his own weapon at her. If she did not move right now, she would be dead. Fortunately, her Mossad training made sure that she had some extra strength left that could kick in in situations like these, and although her entire body screamed and ached in protest, Ziva started rolling aside.

The deafening shot of the gun echoed through the huge garage and Ziva clenched her teeth when the bullet grazed her side. But she had to ignore the pain if she wanted to live. She rolled back onto her stomach and started firing her weapon before her attacker had even fully come into view again.

She heard him mutter a curse under his breath and then hurry back towards his car. Realizing that her bruised and bleeding body would not be fast enough if she tried to jump to her feet and follow him now, Ziva remained on the ground and sent several more rounds after him from down there. Even though her angle was bad, at least one of her bullets went right through the already shattered driver's window and must have hit whoever occupied the driver's seat. Still, the car sped away with screeching tires.

Ziva dropped her SIG and rolled onto her back, trying to control her ragged breathing. Then she pressed a hand to her bleeding side and suppressed a moan when a piercing pain shot through her body.

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><p>AN: Action sequences are not my strong suit. Hope it was ok, though. The next chapter is almost done so it will be up soon. Thanks a lot to those of you who reviewed and enjoyed the last two chapters so much!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: As promised, here's already the next chapter. Thanks for all the great reviews!

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><p>Tony walked into the patient room he knew was the Director's and to his relief, he found that Jenny was no longer unconscious, but looking at him expectantly. Of course, seeing her in a hospital bed, hooked up to dozens of steadily beeping machines was still wrong, somehow, because there shouldn't have been a reason for her to be in here fighting death at all.<p>

But no use crying over spilled milk. All that was important now was that Jenny would pull through this. And she certainly looked like she had every intention to do so.

"Agent DiNozzo, how nice of you to drop by," she said and Tony wasn't quite sure whether she was being sarcastic or not. But then, it probably shouldn't surprise him that she was a bit cranky. Getting shot at point-blank range could do that to you.

"Why, of course, I had to come by, Director," he replied in his most charming manner. After all, cheering people up was his specialty. "I brought you some flowers, too, but… I left them outside to… check with your doctor first whether it's okay to bring them in… I'll just go get them…"

"Tony," Jenny said before he could actually leave the room again. "Why don't you just skip the trip to the gift shop downstairs? I don't need flowers. I'm all set."

She pointed at the black roses and Tony nodded, feeling a bit stupid. Why hadn't he thought about getting her something before waltzing into her room like that? "Of course, you are. Well, how are you feeling?"

"Bored," was Jenny's immediate reply. "And in withdrawal."

"From what?" Tony asked, sniffing a chance to make up for the flowers he had forgotten to bring.

"Caffeine."

"Oh, Gibbs spread that disease, huh?"

Jenny smiled. "Well, he did teach me all of his rules."

"Rule nr. 23," Tony nodded.

"Never mess with a Marine's coffee – if you want to live," Jenny quoted. "I'm not a Marine, but I do feel like I might kill someone soon if I don't get a damn cup of coffee."

Tony smiled because if she was irritated enough to start cussing she probably wouldn't die on them anytime soon. "Well, then why didn't you tell Zee-vah? That sure sounds like a Probie job to me and though, technically, she's not a Probie, she certainly wouldn't have minded to fill in for our actual Probie Wan Kenobi."

"I tried. But my doctor threw her out," Jenny replied.

"Really? I would have liked to see tha…" Tony stopped when he finally realized that he had been so relieved to find Jenny conscious again that he had totally ignored that feeling inside of him, insisting that something was still wrong. He hadn't seen Miss I-can-kill-you-18-different-ways-with-a-paperclip anywhere out there.

"Hey, where is Ziva anyway?" he asked Jenny now, hoping she would tell him that there was no cause for concern.

But before she could answer his question, a male nurse appeared in the open doorway. "Are you from NCIS?" he asked sheepishly.

Tony turned around to the very nervous looking man and said, "This is very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo at your service, yes."

"Oh, thank god!" the man muttered under his breath and turned away again.

A grin spread across Tony's face. There was only one reason for a guy like that to be scared out of his wits. He must have met Ziva. "Hey, do you know where my partner went? Dark-haired, deadly, pretty good-looking…"

"She left a few minutes ago," the nurse told him and the look on his face made it clear that he didn't care for Ziva to come back.

But Tony frowned because it was really not like Ziva to leave the Director unprotected. He gave the Director an apologetic smile and followed the nurse out of the room. But before he could ask any further questions, Tony spotted Gibbs hurrying towards him.

"Is everything alright with the Director?" he asked, slightly out of breath.

"She's already counting the hours until she gets released so I'd say that's a good sign. But do you know where our crazy ninja chick went, Boss?" Tony asked him.

Gibbs looked alarmed. "Ziva's not here?"

"Nurse said she left a few minutes ago," Tony relayed the Intel he had just received and tried not to worry because really, it was totally stupid to worry about Ziva. If she couldn't take care of herself, then who could?

"Abby traced the shooter's car to the hospital garage," Gibbs explained.

Okay, now he _did_ feel a little worried (just a reflex – what could you do?) He turned towards the stairs that would take him and Gibbs down into the garage and froze.

"Ziva!"

It really was his favorite kick-ass Israeli team member, but she dragged herself towards them rather than she was actually walking. She looked pretty badly bruised; her hair was disheveled; a laceration above her right eyebrow was leaking blood as was a not further identifiable wound at her waist she was pressing her hands on. All in all, Tony had never seen her in such a bad condition and it scared the hell out of him.

He and Gibbs both rushed to her side. "Ziva, what happened?" the latter asked.

"Shooter came back. I followed him into the garage and I am pretty sure I hit him at least once. Did not stop him from driving away, though. I am sorry, Gibbs."

"Hey, rule nr. 6, remember?" Tony interjected because he had no idea what else to say.

"Shut up, Tony!" Ziva shot back and collapsed into his arms.

Luckily, there were more than enough doctors around. Gibbs ordered the hospital security to watch over the Director (who protested loudly at being left out of the loop) and then they brought Ziva down to the ER where she was back to her old, chipper self in no time.

"Get your hands off me!" she hissed at the nurse who had tried to clean the cut above her eyebrow after her gunshot wound, which luckily had turned out to be a mere grazing shot, had been taken care of. "I am fine!"

"Ziva," Gibbs gently tried to get her to calm down.

"Really, Gibbs, I have been much worse," Ziva insisted and Tony couldn't help thinking that he was glad he hadn't been with her then. "We have to catch the shooter. I saw the license plate even though I doubt that he will make it very far in that car after I shot at it several times…"

"That's okay. Abby activated the GPS system remotely. She's already tracing the car," Gibbs told her.

"But if he's smart, he will ditch it and find himself a new one that doesn't look like it's come straight out of Grand Theft Auto," Tony added.

"But that's just it, he's not smart," Ziva said while trying to slap the nurses' hand away. "He failed to deliver a kill shot to the Director's heart at point-blank range and he didn't manage to kill me while I was lying on the ground either. He is no professional, Gibbs."

"Which leads us right back to the personal revenge theory," Tony said while the nurse gave up on Ziva's head wound.

"Okay, that's it. You probably have a mild concussion, but if you won't let us help you, then by all means, suit yourself!" the nurse snapped and stormed off.

Tony smirked at Ziva. "Wow, you're the first person I know who managed to make a friendly nurse like that forget all about her oath."

Ziva just rolled her eyes, but Gibbs remained focused. "I looked at the files you gave me, DiNozzo, and though the Director signed them all or was in some other way involved in the cases, most of them are already years old and nothing really struck me as odd."

Tony nodded. He had realized that too, of course.

"Although he did not succeed, he certainly did try to kill me," Ziva mused.

"Well, maybe that was because you were trying to finish him off, Zee-vah," Tony replied and was pleased when he saw her smile a little.

"Yes, but he reached his car ahead of me while I was in a worse position to shoot at him. He probably could have driven away unscathed. Instead, he risked his life to try and kill me, too."

Tony understood what she was getting at. "Maybe it's not only the Director he's after."

"Can you think of any possible connection between you and the Director?" Gibbs asked Ziva.

The beautiful Israeli woman shook her head. "That is all far too long ago and no one survived who could yearn for revenge."

Tony made a mental note to ask Ziva about the time she had spent in Europe with Jenny. Out loud he said, "Maybe he's not done yet. Maybe he's going for the whole team."

Gibbs looked grim as he considered the possibility. "Get a protection detail for Abby, Ducky and Palmer and inform McGee!"

"On it, Boss," Tony reached for his cell to make the necessary calls. Once he was done, he walked back to Gibbs and Ziva. "Bad news, Boss. McGeek says that one of Ziva's bullets must have fried the GPS system so we can't trace the shooter's car anymore. But I already updated the BOLO, just in case he actually keeps it."

Gibbs nodded in acknowledgment and Ziva asked, "Should I go back to the Director now?"

"No, I think the hospital security can handle it from here," Gibbs replied, however.

"But I am fine."

"I know, David, which is why we might need you to catch this bastard!"

Ziva nodded in understanding and Tony was relieved to see that her latest run-in with that guy didn't seem to bother her at all and only made her all the more determined to catch him before anybody else could get hurt.

Tony shared the sentiment. First the Director, now Ziva… that guy was really trying very hard to seriously piss him off. Fortunately, he hadn't been able to cause any permanent damage so far and Tony would make damn sure it would never come to that.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I'm awfully busy right now, but here's the next little chapter. Hopefully, there will be more soon. But thanks a lot for all the great reviews!

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><p>When they entered the squad room at NCIS after checking the hospital parking garage for evidence, McGee was already waiting for them.<p>

"Boss, the security officer who was sent down to Abby's lab found it empty and she's not answering her cell phone either."

Ziva looked at Gibbs, as did Tony. "Check with the gates," Gibbs ordered.

McGee nodded and hurried back to his desk. Ziva watched him making the call and feverishly hoped that the guards at the gate would tell him that Abby had not left the Navy Yard. With the Director in the hospital and herself almost getting shot, too, Abby just couldn't be missing. It was too much – especially for Gibbs. They needed Abby to be safe. _He_ needed Abby to be safe.

"Abby left about an hour ago," McGee however reported and it was obvious that he was already worried sick about her.

Before any of them could reply anything to that, they heard the ding of the elevator and spun around. But of course it wasn't Abby. It was Ducky.

"Ziva, I heard you were attacked, too. I came to see whether you were alright."

Feeling touched, Ziva smiled at the elder medical examiner. "Thanks, Ducky, but I am fine."

"Duck, do you know where Abby is?" Gibbs asked once she had barely finished her sentence.

"Abigail?" Ducky looked confused when he noticed all their concerned faces staring at him. "I think she was heading for the hospital to visit the Director. The dear girl wanted to keep her company because hospitals can be a rather dull and depressing place."

"She could have run right into our Mystery guy as he was leaving – or his car broke down," Tony said what they were probably all thinking.

Ducky seemed to catch on quickly. "Yes, that would be consistent with the pattern he seems to be establishing. Apparently, he feels more comfortable attacking women."

Ziva snorted, but did not say anything. This was not the time to point out that she was certainly not a victim and could take better care of herself than most men. Unfortunately, the same was not necessarily true for Abby.

"Maybe, but we still don't know why he would attack them in the first place. The Director hasn't been an active field agent for a while now and Abby barely gets into contact with any of our suspects at all," McGee pointed out, sounding slightly desperate.

"Perhaps, Timothy, the solution to this mystery lies not with the persons who were attacked, but with someone who the attacker could get back at by hurting his victims," Ducky mused.

Immediately, they all looked at Gibbs. Of course, if something happened to Abby, pretty much the entire agency would be devastated because she just seemed to be friends with everyone. Ziva was a case in point.

At first, their relationship had been tense, if not hostile, and with good reason. Abby had resented her for replacing Kate (and probably for being related to her killer), and they had just been too different in character to get along. Or so it had seemed. But Abby had been unable to hold a grudge against Ziva for long, and by now Ziva considered Abby to be one of her closest friends (of which she didn't have many – as a matter of fact they were all in this room just now) because Abby really was impossible not to like (although in an irritating kind of way sometimes).

Still, everybody knew that she was like a daughter to Gibbs and he was also closest to the Director, which was obvious even if one didn't know the intimate details of their history. Ziva was not entirely sure how Gibbs felt about herself, but since she had begun to care about and respect him like a father, she hoped that her death would come as somewhat of a shock to him as well.

"If that is true," Ziva was the first to speak again, "then Abby is as good as dead already." Of course, everyone glared at her for saying that, but she had never understood what the point was in avoiding the plain truth.

"Not necessarily," Ducky contradicted, however. "This is of course mere guess work without further information on this man. But although you're right that he went for the obvious kill so far, it didn't go so well. It is possible that this motivated him to change his M.O."

"Let's hope you're right, Ducky," Tony said.

Gibbs tossed the blood sample of the guy Ziva had shot in the hospital garage, which they had found on the ground next to the tracks his car tires had left, into McGee's hand. "We have to identify this guy!"

"Uh, Boss, usually that's Abby's…" McGee broke off when he saw the expression on Gibbs' face. "Luckily, Abby and I worked on a computer program that would cross-reference any evidence we might find with all our recent files or those in which any recent developments like prison releases took place. If we ever had anything to do with this guy, this blood sample should show up somewhere."

They all headed down into Abby's lab and McGee and Ducky tried to get Abby's instruments to analyze the blood sample.

"Kind of creepy down here without her," Tony whispered into Ziva's ear.

"Yes, the music is missing," she nodded.

"Why is this taking so long?" Gibbs barked at them.

McGee winced slightly. "The program is already running, Boss. But it has to sift through a lot of data…"

"Poor McGeek," whispered Tony.

"Poor Gibbs," added Ziva.

"Yeah, can't imagine him without Abby being around." Tony grimaced. "Nah, that would be really bad for all of us."

"Especially for Abby."

Tony looked at her. "So now you care about her?"

Ziva met his gaze coldly. "You know I only said what everybody was thinking, anyway. Besides, it is better to prepare yourself for the worst."

"Really? I thought keeping your hopes up was the key," Tony contradicted. "For example, when you weren't at your post at the Director's door, I told myself that you must be fine, and voila, there you were scaring the crap out of the hospital staff." He grinned at the fresh memory.

Ziva inclined her head. "So, you were worried about me, Tony?"

"What?"

Ziva had to laugh when she saw the expression on his face. "You look like… how do you say it… a kid caught with his hand in a candy jar!"

"Cookie jar," Tony corrected her indignantly. "And I looked nothing like that."

"Sure, you did. So, you _did_ worry."

But Tony never got the chance to reply anything to that because McGee interrupted them. "Boss, I think I found something."

"Ya think, McGee?" Gibbs leaned over his shoulder to stare at the computer screen.

"Well, it's only a partial match, but close enough for the program to notice it. The blood of the shooter resembles that of…" McGee hit a few buttons and a military ID appeared on screen, "Lance Corporal James Cooper."

Ziva immediately recognized the name and photo. "You arrested the Lance Corporal for murdering his girlfriend only last week."

"Yes, I know, Ziva. And I also happen to know that he won't be out of jail any time soon, McGee," Gibbs said.

"Well, it's only a partial match, so it wasn't him."

"Then who was it, McGee?"

"May I have a look, Timothy?" Ducky asked when McGee looked flustered. After checking the two blood samples, the Doctor said, "I would say it's a close family member, Jethro."

McGee acted on cue immediately and checked the file. "The only listed family member of the Lance Corporal is his brother John Cooper, civilian."

"James and John Cooper. Wow, never would have guessed that one," Tony joked and was immediately rewarded with Gibbs' head slap.

"No, you didn't, DiNozzo, or we wouldn't be here right now."

"Right."

"If John Cooper is a civilian, it would explain his lack of experience," Ziva offered to get them back on track.

"And if his brother was his only family, which he felt you deprived him of, Jethro, he might have decided to deprive you of yours," Ducky mused.

Since they knew that Gibbs' real family was dead, they were the ones who came closest to one. Gibbs certainly seemed convinced. "Find him!"

"I doubt that even he would be stupid enough to stay at his apartment," Ziva suspected.

Ducky nodded. "But he certainly would choose a place where he feels safe."

"How about his brother's place?" Tony suggested. "That should be empty."

"McGee?"

"Found it, Boss."

Within seconds they were on their way.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I had some free time on my hands, so I decided to finally finish this story. The chapters are again not very long, but at least there's three of them. Hope you enjoy.

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><p>Abby began to think that someone had jinxed her or something because it seemed as if she had developed an uncanny knack of attracting psychos who wanted to kill her. Seriously, she had lost count of all the times someone had tried to abduct her or shoot her or poison her… And the worst part about it was (well, besides the almost dying part) that most of the times she had no clue what the hell it was all about.<p>

Well, mostly it had turned out that it hadn't actually been about her, at all. It had been about her work or Gibbs or some other member of their team… It was quite frustrating. If someone felt he needed to abduct her, Abby thought that he should at least have the decency to do it because of _her_ and not because of some other stupid agenda.

Abby took a deep breath. Okay, perhaps she was freaking out a little. But in a way, it was true. She had never seen this guy before in her life and she had absolutely no idea what he wanted from her – besides killing her, of course, eventually, maybe…

For now he had only brought her to his house and she was currently sitting on the living room floor while her kidnapper tried to threaten her with his gun even though he was slightly distracted by the gun shot wound in his left shoulder.

"You should have that looked at, you know," Abby said while she watched him press bandages to his bleeding shoulder.

"Shut up!" he snapped at her and raised his gun again, but Abby could still see that the bleeding wound was slowly depriving him of his strength.

"U-kay." Abby shrugged, but started looking around for anything she could possibly use as a weapon in case he really got weaker.

She also couldn't help wondering who had shot at him in the first place. Could this be the guy who had tried to kill the Director? And if that was the case, then had he tried to finish her off and run into Gibbs or Ziva? Abby hoped they were alright. But if they were, they were certainly looking for her already. All she needed to do was to stay alive until they got here.

Abby hated the thought that they had to risk their lives to come and rescue her – again. But at the same time it gave her comfort, of course. She knew that Gibbs wouldn't rest until he had found her. He wouldn't just leave her at the mercy of this freak. He would be there for her. He always was.

And Abby thanked him for it in her own way. She had helped save other members of her team numerous times as well. That was what you did for members of your family. Abby just wasn't so much involved in the kicking down doors and shooting people part. Her skills were more… subtle and sophisticated and she certainly wouldn't give up hope because this weird guy, who was busy bleeding on the carpet, happened to have a gun.

"So, uh, nice place you have here," she said to engage him in a conversation and keep him distracted from… well, anything else.

Her abductor stared at her and at first, Abby thought she had made him mad – or more so than he already was – but then he replied, "Not mine. My brother's."

"Really? I have a brother, too." Abby had no clue why she was telling him this because surely, it wasn't exactly the brightest idea to tell a psycho guy who wanted to kill her that she had family as well.

"Yeah? Was he taken away from you, too?" her kidnapper merely asked, though, taking Abby by surprise.

"Uh, no. How did he die?" Again, not so good to bring up a bad memory like that, but Abby thought that someone had once told her that it was always helpful to establish some kind of emotional connection with a hostage-taker. Probably Ducky. Of course, she wasn't exactly a hostage. Or was she?

"He's not dead. He was put into prison."

Abby thought she might begin to understand… "Oh."

"Yeah, by your Boss, actually," he spat at her. "He was all I had."

"Well, I'm sure Gibbs didn't do it to hurt you, but your brother committed a crime…"

"Shut up!" he roared and jumped towards her to strike her across the face with his weapon. "I don't want to hear this crap from you!"

Abby moaned as she lay on the floor. Her head felt as if it should have been ripped off. Ducky must have failed to mention how very unwise it was to make your kidnapper angry.

"He took James away from me!" he went on. "But I will make him suffer, too. Yes, I will make him understand how that feels – by killing you!"

He pointed his good arm with the gun at her and Abby felt a sudden rush of fear. "No, please…"

This wasn't right.

She wasn't ready to die.

Where was Gibbs?


	11. Chapter 11

Gibbs brought the car to such a sudden halt that Tony had to cling to the dashboard as to not get propelled out of his seat. The four of them slid out of the car and hurried towards the house, their weapons drawn, trying to be quick and silent at the same time. But they had done this before. Gibbs and Probie would take the front, Ziva and himself would cover the back. They were like a well-oiled machine.

Until they heard Abby's scream coming from inside the house.

And their plan went right down the drain when Gibbs simply stormed through the front door without waiting for anyone else to be in position.

"Dammit!" Tony cursed and had no choice but to follow right behind his Boss, Ziva on his heels.

They rushed into the house and found Abby lying on the floor in the living room, but the shooter made a run for it through the backdoor as soon as he heard them.

"I'll get him!" Tony called out to his team members and gave chase because he knew that Gibbs would be momentarily torn between catching this bastard and checking on Abby. So, as Senior Field Agent he thought he should make the decision for him.

"Not without me, you won't," Ziva replied, however, and she appeared running right next to him.

Tony tried to shake his head without losing sight of the guy. "Doctors said you need… rest," he told her between breaths.

But Ziva merely gave him an incredulous look and kept running beside him.

Tony sighed and aimed his weapon at the guy who seemed to lose ground with every passing second. Well, judging from the bloody bandages that had covered the living-room floor, Ziva had indeed shot him once already. "Federal Agents, stop!" he ordered, but to no avail. "Why do they never listen?" he muttered under his breath.

"Because, Tony, that would be too easy," Ziva replied, increased her speed even more and lunged at John Cooper.

It was like watching a panther taking down his prey on National Geographic, a little scary and yet amazing in its deadly beauty and graze. While Ziva and Cooper went down, Tony was mesmerized for a few seconds and almost expected Ziva to reveal her claws or something. But then Cooper tried to knee Ziva in the gut and struggle for his weapon and Tony immediately snapped out of it to help his partner.

He kicked the gun out of Cooper's hand and poked his own SIG into the guy's chest. "Move another muscle and you will never see your brother again."

He could see the defeat in the man's eyes. Panting, he and Ziva dragged him back to his feet and handcuffed him. Then Tony frogmarched him back to the house while telling him his rights, though he wasn't sure whether he would even survive eye-to-eye contact with Gibbs.

When they entered the living-room, a thankfully very much alive Abby was still hugging Gibbs. "I knew you would come," she said.

"You sure you alright, Abs?" he asked in return.

"Yup, I'm kinda getting used to being abducted by freaks," Abby joked.

Gibbs smiled mildly, but when he kissed her on the cheek he said, "Never again, Abs."

Then he turned towards John Cooper and Tony was prepared to allow him a few punches before he would have to intervene. But Gibbs merely stared at him, grabbed him at the injured shoulder and pushed him outside towards the car. McGee followed, supporting Abby and Tony walked towards the door, too, when he realized that Ziva wasn't right behind him.

"Something wrong, catwoman?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"No, everything is fine," Ziva replied and walked towards him, but he spotted something on her shirt that looked suspiciously like blood. Obviously, her wound had reopened.

"See, that's what you get for not listening to me," he told her.

"Shut up, Tony!" she hissed.

He shook his head. "Guess our little crazy ninja chick is not as invincible as she would like us all to think."

Tony had barely finished that sentence when Ziva had moved so fast that her face was mere inches away from his own. "Do you really want to find out, Tony?"

He grinned at her. "I would, but we don't want to overstrain that pretty head of yours. The concussion, remember?"

Ziva's eyes narrowed. "Why do you even care, Tony?"

"Maybe because I don't like to see you bleeding like that."

Her eyes bored into his. "Why?"

"Because…" He didn't know what to say. "Do I need a reason? I'm your partner. I care about you."

Ziva was so close now, he could smell the sweet mixture of perfume, shampoo and sweat that emanated from her. "Yes, I actually think you do, Tony." With that she slipped past him and out of the house, but not without smacking his butt.

Tony shook his head. This woman was driving him crazy… and he loved every minute of it.


	12. Chapter 12

"Thanks for dropping me off, Jethro," Jenny said when she gingerly entered her study.

She still felt a little weak and would probably not go back to the office for a few more days, but she was glad that the doctors had released her. She would have gone mad if she'd been forced to stay in that hospital bed for one more day.

But she was even more relieved that Jethro and his team had caught that guy without further casualties – and that included the shooter himself. Of course, he could rot in hell for all Jenny was concerned. But she had been a little worried that Gibbs or Ziva might do something that could have gotten them into trouble. He certainly wouldn't have been worth that.

"No problem, Jen," Gibbs replied now, standing in the doorway.

Jenny looked at him. "The new security personnel seems… capable. You handpicked them, didn't you?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Won't make the same mistakes twice."

"No, certainly not." She wouldn't go opening any doors any time soon.

Gibbs' cell phone rang. "Gibbs," he answered it.

Jenny could hear Abby's voice from the other end. _"Hey, Gibbs, I just wanted to thank you for the roses and the x-tra sized Caf-Pow. Of course, it wasn't necessary because it's not your fault that that guy went bonkers, but still, I appreciate the gesture."_

Gibbs smiled. "Good."

"_Right, and I wanted to ask you what you think of having dinner?"_

"Dinner, Abs?"

"_Yes, with the w__hole team. We are family, Gibbs. We have to spend more time together outside the office,"_ Abby explained. _"Are you free tomorrow night?"_

"Yeah."

"_Great, I'll arrive at your kitchen at precisely 1800 hours."_

"My kitchen?"

"_Of course, it has to be your house. You are our leader, Gibbs, and we love you. Or I do. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."_

Gibbs shook his head, but he was smiling when he put his phone away again.

"Sounds as if Abby recovered as well," Jenny said.

"Yeah, she's resilient," Gibbs nodded.

"Sure is. As is Ziva." Jenny looked at him. "He sure knew who to target. And you know, in a weird way I'm flattered that he thought I meant as much to you as Abby and Ziva do."

Gibbs met her gaze. "Jen."

"I know," she sighed. "That's macabre."

"No, that's ridiculous," Gibbs corrected and moved into the room.

"Is it?" Jenny asked. "So, if I asked you to stay, you would…"

"… say not tonight."

Jenny frowned. "Why not?"

"Because Abby plans to take over my house tomorrow," Gibbs replied.

"Huh, go figure."

Gibbs smiled and moved closer to kiss her on the cheek. "You know what you mean to me, Jenny."

As she watched him leave, the Director of NCIS pondered whether it was time to rectify some mistakes she had made. Up to now she hadn't even been willing to call them mistakes. But getting shot at tended to straighten out one's priorities.

And lying in that hospital bed, Jenny hadn't spent her time waiting for the doctors to tell her that she could go back to work, but that she could go back to being with Gibbs and his team – family, as Abby had called it. When Jenny had decided to focus on her career instead of her personal life, she had basically given up on the idea of having her own family one day. But perhaps, it wasn't too late, after all.

Yes, it was certainly time to at least consider making some new decisions.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Originally, I intended the 12. chapter to be the last one. But once I was done writing it, I decided otherwise. So here is the real final chapter. Hope you all enjoy even though there's no more action, just a little team family/friendship stuff.

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><p>"Gibbs, why didn't you tell me that you don't have any pots?" Abby asked, starring at the empty cupboards in Gibbs' kitchen.<p>

"You didn't ask," Gibbs merely replied with a shrug.

Abby frowned. "Don't you ever cook?"

"Don't need pots to make steak."

Abby sighed and reached for her cell phone. "… McGee? Where are you?"

"_On my way to Gibbs' house. Why?"_ answered McGee's voice on the other end

"I need you to pick up some stuff first," Abby explained and gave him the list – it was a pretty long list.

"_Uh, okay, got it."_ McGee replied. _"But, uh, Abby, are you planning on cooking yourself?"_

"Well, Ziva agreed to help, but she's not here yet. Are you saying you don't trust me, McGee?"

"_What?... Uh, no, I was just wondering which recipe includes Caf-Pow."_

Abby rolled her eyes. "Just get here, McGee. And don't forget anything!" She hung up and looked at Gibbs. "Do you think we should be worried that Ziva's not here yet?"

"Nah." Gibbs shook his head. "You know Ziva."

Abby nodded even though she wasn't entirely convinced. But whenever someone tried to kill her, she usually was a little on edge for a couple of days, so it was probably best to trust Gibbs' judgment on this – not that it wasn't _always_ best to trust Gibbs' judgment… "So, how are _you_ doing, Gibbs?"

He just gave her his signature look. "I'm fine, Abs. I'm not the one who got shot at."

"Well, in a way you are. You're the one he targeted with all this. And I just don't want you to blame yourself for this, Gibbs, because it wasn't your fault."

"I'm good, Abs," Gibbs assured her, but Abby still took a few more seconds to look at him because she knew him well enough by now to be aware that he usually refused to openly display his emotions. But that was just Gibbs and Abby had organized this dinner to show him – without the need for words – that his team supported him, no matter what.

"Alright then, let's get cooking!"

Of course there wasn't much they could do just yet, but Abby suggested starting with the potatoes – only that turned out to be anything but fun.

"Urgh, I never realized how disgusting these things really are," she complained, spending several minutes on peeling one potato.

"Then why did you want to eat them?" asked Gibbs, who was much faster, but also less meticulous.

Abby shrugged. "Well, they are alright once they are properly cooked and mashed and all that. Plus, I planned on ordering McGee to take care of them."

Gibbs just laughed and that made the whole thing actually quite worth her while, after all.

Finally, McGee arrived and since he was somewhat of a control freak, he actually hadn't forgotten anything that had been on the list. He had also run into Ducky in the driveway and the elder medical examiner helped Gibbs to get all the kitchen stuff into the kitchen while Abby and McGee hang back.

"Hey, Abby, I didn't mean to offend you when I asked whether you were doing the cooking. I just never figured you to be chef material."

"Did you think that Ziva's cooking would rock before she invited us over for the first time?" Abby asked.

McGee hesitated. "Uh, no, good point. As I said, it was a stupid Tony-like comment and I'm sorry."

"Hey, first of all, no breaking rule nr. 6, and second, it's okay, McGee," Abby said.

But he shook his head. "No, really, I don't want you to think that I don't trust your ability to master everything you want to…"

Abby smiled because it was cute how anxious he was to apologize, but still she interrupted him, "Seriously, Timmy, we're good and I've already decided not to slip rat poison in your dinner."

"Oh, good."

They went back into the kitchen and when Abby was just about to call Ziva for the third time before imploring Gibbs to go looking for her after all, the front door was opened and Tony called:

"Stop eating immediately! I demand my fair share of the dinner!"

Abby hurried into the hall and was relieved to see him and Ziva getting rid of their coats. "Dinner's not even ready, yet, Tony. We were waiting for our chef," she said.

"I am sorry, Abby," Ziva replied. "Tony kept me."

"Excuse me? I kept you? Aren't we forgetting a tiny little something here, Zee-vah?" Since Ziva didn't say anything and Abby looked at them questioningly, Tony explained, "Our little Miss-I-am-so-much-tougher-than-you-because-I-can-kill-you-twenty-different-ways-you-have-never-even-heard-of had skipped all of her scheduled follow-up examinations at Bethesda. So we had to make a little stop at the hospital before coming here. Isn't that right, Zee-vah?"

"Yes, so the doctors there could tell me that everything was fine, just like I told you," Ziva replied.

"Yeah, so no harm in going there."

"No harm and no _sense_."

"Oh, forgive me for caring about your health!"

"There is nothing wrong with my health, Tony!"

"Hey!" An annoyed Ziva, affronted Tony and grinning Abby all turned towards Gibbs. "Are we ever gonna eat today, or what?"

Tony and Ziva looked chastised and Ziva came back into the kitchen with Abby, which finally got them started on dinner.

An hour later, Tony wouldn't stop bothering them anymore. "Can we eat now? I'm starving!"

"We're still waiting for the Director," Abby replied. "I told her to come by a little later because I wasn't sure whether I could ask her to help make dinner."

Gibbs laughed. "Jen never cooked dinner in her entire life."

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, Jethro. Last time I checked making steaks on a kitchen grill didn't exactly add up to being a five star chef yourself," the Director's voice came from the doorway.

Abby had no idea how Gibbs could stand living with that open front door. But he seemed unperturbed.

"Doesn't matter how I make my steaks, they still make a decent dinner."

"Could you all stop talking about delicious food as long as I can't have any?" Tony interjected.

"Stop whining, Tony! Dinner's ready," Ziva announced, which finally made them sit down at the table (that actually consisted of three little camping tables because Gibbs didn't have a real dining table, of course. Guess there were a couple of things Abby hadn't thought about before coming here).

"This is absolutely delicious, my dears," Ducky was the first to comment on the food, looking at Ziva and Abby.

The latter grinned at the Scotsman. "Thank you, Ducky, but Ziva deserves all the praise, really."

"But without you we wouldn't even be here, Abby," Ziva reminded them.

"Which would be a damn shame because this… is… damn… good," Tony got out between mouthfuls.

"Uh, thank you, I guess," Ziva replied.

"Yes, finally you got something right, Tony," McGee added with a grin.

Tony gulped down some water. "Not now, McTease. I'm enjoying this fabulous meal. I'll get to you later."

"Okay, before this gets any more out of hand, I think we forgot something," the Director said now. "A toast."

Abby lowered her fork. "You're right! How come I didn't think of that? Everybody: stop eating!" They did as she said even though Tony looked reluctant, but he knew better than to argue with her. Pleased, Abby turned towards their leader since he seemed to be the natural choice. "Gibbs?"

But he in turn looked at the Director sitting next to him. "I think our Director should do the honors," he said.

Jenny looked surprised, but not unpleasantly so. "Alright," she nodded and reached for her glass of whine. The others followed suit. "Here's to… another job well done and… to family."

"To family," it echoed around the table and Abby beamed at McGee while sipping at her glass and she didn't fail to notice that Tony and Ziva were exchanging a look as well.

The rest of the dinner passed in a cheerful and surprisingly peaceful mood and afterwards they started clearing the table and dispersed into smaller groups. Abby was about to enter the kitchen to help Ziva wash up when she realized that the beautiful Israeli woman already had all the help she would need.

"Seriously, Ziva, you've outdone yourself. Dinner was great," Tony just said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Yes, you already said that. Stop talking trash and make yourself useful," Ziva replied and gave him a towel.

He didn't complain and started drying up the dishes she handed him. "Why did you thank Ducky when he complemented you, but accuse me of talking trash?" he asked instead.

"Because you usually do," Ziva answered with a smile on her lips.

"Hey, I can be serious, too!" Tony complained.

Ziva shrugged. "Then perhaps you should try it more often because it didn't stick with me."

"Oh, you want a sample, is that it?" Tony put the towel down. "Fine, here goes: I dragged you to the hospital today because realizing that this bastard had almost killed you totally freaked me out and not because of your Mossad superwoman attitude, but because I don't think I could stand losing you as my partner. How's that for being serious?"

Ziva had dropped the plate she'd been scrubbing into the sink and looked at Tony, her eyes the softest of all browns. "Not bad. Not bad, at all," she finally responded in a throaty voice.

Abby smiled to herself and turned around to give the two some privacy. Back in the living room she searched for some electronic device she could use to put some of the music on she had brought along and out of the corner of her eye she saw that Gibbs and the Director were sitting on the sofa, drinking bourbon.

"Thanks for letting me do the toast," Jenny just said, sipping at her glass.

Gibbs shrugged. "You're better at this kind of thing. Always have been."

"What kind of thing?" Jenny asked.

"Speeches, politics, stuff like that," Gibbs replied.

Jenny nodded, but she seemed thoughtful. "Actually, I've been thinking about that ever since… you know how it is, being in a hospital there's not much else to do… Anyway, I've been wondering whether I really made the right decision in leaving the active field work."

Gibbs smiled. "I told ya."

"Yes, I know." Jenny sighed.

Gibbs seemed to realize that she was serious about this. In any case, he said, "Not too late to go back, Jen."

"Oh, no, it is. Way too much humiliation. Everybody would think that I simply wasn't up to the job. Plus, if I left, I would have to leave all of this. But the people in this house are the closest thing I'll ever have to a family."

"You never talked about wanting a family, Jen."

The Director sighed again. "Yes, I guess I always thought that I still had enough time."

"You still have enough time," Gibbs said.

She looked up from her glass and into his eyes. "You really think so?"

"Yah."

A little smile spread across Jenny's face. "Listen, Jethro, there's something else that's been bothering me. When you had left my house, I realized that I had never thanked you… for saving my life, I mean. So… thank you."

Gibbs just gave her one of his half-smiles. "No need to thank me."

"Why not?"

"Because you're family for me, too, Jen."

Abby tried to hide her grin and gave up on her hunt for a CD-player. Apparently, nobody around here needed music to engage in stimulating conversation. Abby decided to go join McGee and Ducky and help them find a more interesting topic than golfing.

In her mind she had already decided to make this a regular thing. Apparently, a nice dinner after a stressful week, no matter whether somebody got shot at or not, was exactly what they had needed. Not that this came as a surprise to her.

It was the perfect thing for them to do as a family.

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><p>AN: Hope you liked it and thank you so much for reading and reviewing this story!


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